SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Deutsche Welle - Sudan's liberalization for the chosen few

14/7/2020: Deutsche Welle - Sudan's liberalization for the chosen few, by Cristina Krippahl

 DW’s report on Sudan’s criminal law reforms quotes from Magdi el-Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, who suggests that the changes do not benefit Sudan’s poor and risk polarising Sudanese society.

 El-Gizouli says the changes are welcome “for the lifestyle of a certain segment of the population in Khartoum,” and that the details are “inconvenient” to Sudan’s western donors.

 El-Gizouli argued that the FGM ban risks “criminalising the poor” citing a lack of clarity as to who will be prosecuted, and questioning whether legal means are best in fighting “cultural practice.”

 On laws ending women requiring authorisation from males to travel abroad, El-Gizouli claimed that most women affected by such issues “don't travel through airports.”

 El-Gizouli added that laws making prostitution punishable only if occurring in a brothel fail to protect impoverished women forced into prostitution, and do not apply to wealthy clients who have their own property.